The Greek Passion

In the organizer's words:

Opera

Opera in four acts by Bohuslav Martinů
In English with German and English surtitles | Second (Zurich) version, 1961

The arrival of a group of refugees divides a village community in rural Greece. Bohuslav Martinů's opera tells of rejection and sacrifice and builds a bridge between stories of expulsion and Christian passion. How do we treat those in need and what does society mean? A sunny Easter morning in the Attic mountains: after the church service, the village priest Grigoris distributes the roles of next year's Passion play to the villagers. A group of refugees and their priest Fotis soon appear in the small village, chanting psalms and carrying the cross of St. George. Their arrival and the associated questions of humanity divide the community - in the end there is a murder. The politically highly topical and pertinent material is based on Nikos Kazantzakis' 1948 novel "The Recrucified Christ". Martinů, who himself had to flee from the National Socialists in 1940, worked with Kazantzakis on an opera libretto that makes the spheres of the sacred, humanity and folklore equally tangible. In his last opera, he finds an impressive tonal language: large and moving choral movements such as simple folk tunes, church music and brightly shimmering orchestral colors characterize the great musical richness of the Greek Passion, which director Calixto Bieito ("Marienvesper", "Jakob Lenz", "La Resurrezione", "Der Silbersee") will set in impressive images. This content has been machine translated.